Understanding Sexual Abuse & Your Legal Rights
How to recognize what happened, understand the signs, and explore your options.
Sometimes people are not sure what they experienced as a child or teen qualifies as sexual abuse. In many cases, it takes time to recognize the signs of sex abuse and understand how those experiences may still be affecting you today.
The sex abuse resources found on this website are designed to help you better understand what to look for, how sex abuse can take shape, and what steps you can take if you are considering moving forward.
What is Grooming?
Understand how abuse often begins before anything feels clearly wrong
Grooming tends to occur in environments where trust, authority, and access are already built into the structure of the organization in which the child is participating. Oftentimes people do not experience sexual abuse as something that is immediately clear.
Learn More…
If you are reading something here that feels familiar, you do not need to figure it out on your own. You can speak with someone and get a clearer understanding of your options.
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS RECOVERED FOR SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS
Paul Mones represented hundreds of survivors in the 2.6 billion dollar Boy Scout bankruptcy, the second largest sexual abuse settlement in history. Paul is also one of seven attorneys chosen to be a member of the Settlement Trust Advisory Committee, helping to oversee the Boy Scout bankruptcy.
When you are considering taking action, who represents you matters. Cases involving sexual abuse often mean standing up to powerful individuals and institutions that have resources, influence, and a history of protecting themselves.
Being represented by attorneys who have already taken on those systems and exposed them can make a meaningful difference in how your case is handled and how your voice is heard.
If you are thinking about coming forward, having the right team from the beginning can shape everything that follows.
Trusted by survivors nationwide for over 40 years

For more than 40 years, survivors across the country have trusted Paul Mones PC to handle some of the most complex and difficult cases involving childhood sexual abuse. That trust is built on a track record of meaningful results, including landmark verdicts against powerful institutions, as well as national recognition for the firm’s work. Paul Mones has been recognized by Best Lawyers and included in the Best Law Firms California Edition, reflecting both peer respect and sustained excellence in this area. Beyond awards and results, the firm’s reputation comes from a consistent commitment to listening, providing clarity, and helping survivors move forward on their own terms.
Featured in Netflix’s Scouts Honor documentary
In 2023, Netflix released Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America, highlighting the infamous Boy Scout Perversion Files. Paul Mones was among the first attorneys to use these files in a landmark 2010 trial that resulted in a 19.8 million dollar verdict, the largest ever against the Boy Scouts. The case helped expose decades of abuse and was a key factor in the organization’s 2020 bankruptcy. Paul is featured in the documentary as a leading authority on these cases.
Landmark verdict against the Boy Scouts of America ($19.8M)

In 2010, a Portland, Oregon jury awarded a $19.8 million verdict against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). This was considered the largest verdict ever rendered against the organization in a sexual abuse case. The lawsuit and subsequent verdict resulted in the first time ever court-ordered release of the BSA’s internal “perversion files,” which detailed decades of known sexual abuse within the organization. As a result of this landmark verdict, untold thousands of men around the United States finally realized they were not alone.
Meet Our Lawyers
Paul Mones | Founder
As a California-based attorney who has spent more than 40 years representing survivors of sexual abuse, Paul Mones’ practice focuses on both adults who were abused as children and children who have experienced abuse more recently, often alongside a wide range of unrelated practice areas like car accidents, dog bites and medical malpractice. When you look closely, sexual abuse is merely one category among many.
He is licensed in California, Massachusetts, and New York, and works with a trusted network of co-counsel across the country to handle cases nationwide.
Courtney Kiehl | Partner
Courtney is not only an attorney – she is a sexual abuse survivor and lifelong advocate. After experiencing sexual abuse herself, she founded A.C.H.E. and has spent more than twenty years working to protect others.
She works directly with survivors throughout their cases, ensuring they are heard, supported, and understood. Her unique perspective as both a sexual abuse survivor and an attorney brings a level of understanding and insight few law firms can offer.
Cases We Handle
You Are Not Alone.
And You May Still Have Legal Options.
For decades, survivors were silenced by institutions that were supposed to protect them—schools, religious organizations, youth programs, and other trusted authorities.
Many survivors carry the effects of that trauma well into adulthood.
A civil lawsuit is not just about compensation. It is about accountability. It is about exposing the truth. And it is about preventing future abuse.
What Clients Say About Working With The Paul Mones Law Firm
Every case is different and past results therefore do not guarantee success in any particular case.
Professional, responsive, and genuinely supportive. Paul and Courtney made a difficult situation much easier to navigate. I’ll always be grateful for their help and can’t thank them enough.
Paul rocks! 🎸
Paul Mones in my opinion is a Lawyer with a Stellar Reputation. He genuinely cares about his clients. He treats you like family. He takes your case very seriously.Â
From the moment they picked up my case Paul and Courtney were both truly attentive and compassionate. I was pleased with the outcome and I can truly say they played a major part in helping to change my family & my life.
My family and I had been in such a lonely place before book and internet research led me and my family the work of Paul Mones. I felt scared and anxious about starting the legal proceedings. With my family by my side, our first meeting gave me hope that I could begin to leave my past where it belonged. With his extensive experience and knowledge, Paul helped me feel much more comfortable with the legal process. I was always so impressed with his timely response to my questions and concerns, and above all, his sensitivity to the health & wellbeing concerns that stem from these issues. Knowledge aside, his passion for this field is inspiring, and, when the whole process closed after many months of his hard work, I felt a new kind of peace in my life. Thank you is not a big enough term for the support Paul has given me and my family!
Pursuing my child sexual abuse injury claim was a long process which required facing terrible fears, extending great trust, and renewing my strength and resolve continually. While my injury is invisible to most, I always found that Paul and his team treated me with understanding when my injury felt most tender, while still believing in my ability to prevail in each stage of the process. They supported me as I gained ground in overcoming my fears, articulating my case, receiving acknowledgment of the injury from perpetrators and mediators, and winning my settlement. I noted that the mediators and other professionals always told me that I had chosen the best legal team. The team at Paul Mones Law were well worthy of my trust, and they also helped me to grow, learn, and succeed in my pursuit of freedom, healing, and justice.
For years I was torn, fearful and ashamed to tell the truth about what had happened to me at the hand of someone whom represented an organization I trusted and admired. This truth has also provided me the opportunity to feel freedom from a situation that was never of my own doing, my wishes or part of my plan. There is a responsibility that victims of abuse share…their truth can perhaps save another young person from the burden of a similar fate of consequence. If it helps only one beside myself, then it was worth it. Only Paul’s steadfast support and his understanding devotion to seeing the correct and right thing through…gave me the strength to bring mine into the light. I will be forever grateful to him for standing beside me.
Paul worked diligently on my case which resulted in an outcome that I could not be more happy with. His passion for helping abuse survivors has allowed him to enter a world of much sorrow and pain. His courage in fighting through that world in order to reach me is what ultimately saved my life. Pulling me out of the darkness of my past and leading me into a bright future, Paul has helped restore my life.
Having Paul represent me in my sexual abuse case was an absolute blessing. From day one, he demonstrated compassion and understanding. He lead me through the legal process so easily it was amazing!! Paul is the best attorney you could have in your corner.











